Kimberley News: Read this if you wrote to me since April 7! Also, roads and parks updates.

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Kimberley News: Read this if you wrote to me since April 7! Also, roads and parks updates.
April 24, 2017

24 April 2017, Issue #054

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In this issue:

Email Woes. Read this if you wrote to me since April 7!
Roads and Parks Updates

Hi everyone,

I was meant to send this issue a few days ago, as soon as I return from my trip.

However, I returned to a disaster that has since totally preoccupied me.

Email Woes. Read this if you wrote to me since April 7!

As I told you in the last newsletter issue, I had gone on a trip to Kamchatka from April 8 to April 20.
(In the meantime Monica Coleman has been manning the ship here and looking after the customer emails.)

24 hrs before I left, Bigpond suspended my email account. As it turned out, by mistake.

I spent countless hours on the phone to them, both before and after my trip. To date they have not been able to lift that suspension.

Initially I did not worry, as worrying doesn't change a thing.
After all, this is my bigpond.com address.
Anything sent to any address at kimberleyaustralia.com, meaning all reader and customer mail, should be fine, right?

As long as readers and customers are looked after while I am away, I see no reason to stress.
I can think about how to recover the rest of my life when I'm back.

On April 20 I return to discover that
a) I still have no email at bigpond.com (I still don't today and it does not look like I will get it back).
b) When the bigpond.com address is not working, nothing seems to be working.

The bigpond address is my main address. It seems when that address is not working, many functions within the website also stop working.
Like, forwarding of any submissions made through contact forms!

Unlike Bigpond, SBI has great technical support and we have been able to (hopefully) resolve this issue.
The forms SHOULD work again.
But honestly, after what I've been through the last few days I do not trust anything or anyone any more...

Many other things have stopped working even though I can't see how they connect to that email address.
Another problem I have is that Bigpond lied when they said everything would still be there for me, including the emails I received while the account was suspended.
They did manage to give me access to the account for a few hours, and the account is empty. Pristine. Untouched.
Not only are the emails received during the suspension not there, everything is gone. All the history, all contact details, everything. My whole life.

If you have a business yourself I don't need to explain what that means.
If that had been a malicious attack by a nasty competitor trying to harm my business as much as possible, they could not have done a more thorough job.

Long story short...
If you wrote to me through my website since April 7 and I or Monica did not answer, we did not receive your message!
Some messages got through (the suspension was lifted for a couple of days in between apparently) but the vast majority did not.
You can try to use the forms again, they SHOULD work now.
Contact Page
Update Request Page

Or you can write directly to admin AT kimberleyaustralia.com which also SHOULD work.

Last but not least, for this issue, you can also try to just hit reply and hopefully your response will get through to me.

I hope things will work and that I will be able to help you immediately.

I can not begin to tell you how sorry and distraught I am over the situation.

Roads and Parks Updates

This is the section where I would usually tell you in great detail what is happening in the Kimberley, Top End and the Red Centre.

With the loss of my email I have also lost all of my sources, newsletters, contacts...
I will in time be able to recover all that, but for now resolving the email issue is my top priority so I did not have much time to devote to other research. (Or eating or sleeping, for that matter.)

Therefore, just a short summary of what I am aware of.
Mind you, not much is open yet anyway!

The north is still receiving scattered rains that make creeks and rivers rise here and there and may cause temporary closures, even of roads that have already opened.
So take everything I say with a grain of salt and always check the recent road reports yourself!

As of April 17 Purnululu National Park is open, though the visitor centre is still closed. Self registration is available.

As of April 21 the Gibb is open all the way through for high clearance 4WD under 7T only.
(Unsurprisingly, Kalumburu Road is still closed.)
Expect rough conditions, water across road and damage at floodways and creek crossings.
Barnett River, Durack River and Pentecost can not be crossed by low clearance vehicles.
The western half of the road has been graded, grading on the eastern half has commenced and is scheduled to be finished by May 5.

The Fairfield Leopold Road (road to Windjana Gorge and Tunnel Creek national parks) has suffered extensive damage, which was aggravated by people using the road although it was closed!
It will now take even more time to repair, meaning the road and the two national parks will likely remain closed until the beginning of May.

The same goes for the whole King Leopold Range Conservation Park and the roads within, meaning Silent Grove campground, Bell Gorge, Lennard Gorge and Mt Hart.
Again, do not expect any of these places to open any earlier than the beginning of May.
(No date has been set, these are anticipated time frames.)

Geikie Gorge boat tours will start on 1 May 2017.

Tanami Road is open for 4WD.

Duncan Road is open from Halls Creek to Buntine Hwy intersection, the rest is still closed.

If planning to travel soon, regularly check the resources in the appendix of Destination Kimberley.
You have access to all this info!

In Kakadu National Park the two highways are open, as is the Bowali Visitor Centre, the road to Nourlangie and most attractions there.
Yellow Water Cruises still operate from Cooinda Lodge, not the Yellow Water boat ramp, which is still closed.

The road to Ubirr is closed, as is most of the park. Basically, you can access all the places that you can usually access during the wet season. (See Destination Top End for more info.)

The situation in Litchfield is much the same. Anything along sealed roads is accessible, the 4WD tracks are still closed.

For more information and to check out the parks in the Red Centre, use the following links:

Parks in the Darwin Region.
Parks in the Katherine region.
Parks in the Tennant Creek and Barkly region.
Parks in the Alice Springs region.

Another useful source for roads and tracks in the Top End is here:
All obstructions and road closures.

I'll leave it at that for today.

Sorry that I am not my usual upbeat and sociable self.

I hope things will have returned to normal next time you hear from me.

Then there will also be more insider chat, reader comments and reports, photos, video etc. again.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me.
I'll keep mine crossed for you for an awesome trip!

Those of you planning on leaving for their trips soon, please always also refer to the appendix of Destination Kimberley, Destination Top End and Destination Red Centre or to the links in this and in previous newsletters to keep yourself up to date about the conditions.

Happy travels,
Birgit

Feedback? Found some out of date info in one of my guides? Let me know via https://www.kimberleyaustralia.com/contact.html

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